Manga First Look: Tales of Zestiria Vol. 1

Shiramine’s Tales of Zestiria Volume 1 manga adaptation is finally here. In case you didn’t know, Zestiria is a video game of the same and is one of the most recent games in Bandai Namco’s staple Tales Of series.

In this particular world, they are plagued with malevolence, which is an energy that is corrupting their world. It turns those who get fully consumed by it into monsters called Hellions.

Yikes! The story follows Sorey who is a young male human who was raised in a village of Seraphim. Oh yeah and normal humans can’t see them but Sorey can.

One day, the human princess Alisha stumbles onto one of the ruins that Sorey and his childhood friend Mikleo (who is a Seraph) frequent. She came to the ruins in search of the Legend of the Shepherd, the one who is rumored to be able to deal with Malevolence. And thus a traditional hero’s story takes off.

Much like the other adaptations of the story, the characters are still very stylish and appealing. They are also still very recognizable in the manga when comparing the art styles to the anime and video game.

There are some changes in the art style, but that was a given when it comes to watching a story swap mediums. For instance, Mikleo’s features though very similar seem a bit softer in the manga.

This makes him seem more of a bishounen and definitely makes him feel more like your typical tsundere, especially when jealousy around Sorey’s achievements become more apparently.

Zaveid fans will be happy to know that their favorite gun slinging wind Seraph is drawn with his pants riding even lower … it’s all the small intricacies of the changes that will either entertain or concern readers.

The pacing of the story is surprisingly quicker than in the anime. This will be a bit disheartening for people who were fans of getting more moments with Mikleo and Sorey.

Many of their interactions found in both the video game and the anime are cut back for the sake of pacing. But it does make one wonder if there is a push to get past these earlier parts because there is a desire to add more story bits that weren’t added in the previous adaptations. The manga style surely would lend the story room to do so.

Thus far, with the first volume, it’s safe to say that Tales of Zestiria’s manga adaptation will be more of the same. If you weren’t a fan of the video game or anime, then chances are, the manga won’t do much for you either. But if you enjoyed the others, by all means! Join the club!